Myanmar’s military regime has changed the way online fraud perpetrators will be handled in the nation. According to media reports Friday, the country will now impose severe punishments like death penalty for online scammers who commit acts of violence, torture, illegal arrests, detention, or cruel treatment to compel other people to engage in online frauds.
Under the new bill, named “Anti-online scam bill”, suspects who operate centers for online and digital currency scams called scam compounds, will be subjected to life imprisonment.
The proposed bill may soon see the light of day, becoming an imbibed law with the parliament set to meet during the first week of June to vote on the clauses.
The proposed law is a component of Myanmar’s efforts to address both internal unrest and international criticism about the nation’s function as a base for con artists operating across Southeast Asia. Currently, the Anti-Online Scam Bill will impose the harshest penalties in the area.
Legislation comes as Myanmar and China partner to curb digital scams
The legislation comes as Myanmar and China continue to deepen cooperation in their widening crackdown on cross-border scam syndicates operating near their shared border regions.
Authorities from both countries have stepped up efforts over the past year to dismantle large cyber fraud networks accused of running extensive telecommunications scams, online investment fraud operations and trafficking-linked criminal enterprises from northern Myanmar.
In February 2026, the Supreme People’s Court of China announced that two major scam operations linked to the Ming and Bai families, widely regarded as two of the four most powerful criminal families based in northern Myanmar, had been successfully dismantled.
Chinese courts imposed life sentences and other severe punishments on 39 people connected to the syndicates, including 16 individuals who received death sentences.
Eleven members of the Ming family were executed by hanging on January 29, 2026, after being convicted by a court in Wenzhou in September 2025.
Chinese authorities have described the crackdown as one of the country’s largest anti-fraud operations in recent years. By the end of 2025, courts in China had reportedly handled more than 27,000 cases linked to telecommunications fraud originating from northern Myanmar, with over 41,000 repatriated suspects ultimately convicted.
Myanmar’s government has also cooperated closely with Beijing in transferring suspected scam operators as well as victims rescued from fraud compounds. Several transfers reportedly took place through Thailand’s Mae Sot airport in February 2025 as part of broader regional enforcement operations targeting scam hubs and trafficking networks.
New law comes after previous failed lax laws
Before 2021, Myanmar had relatively weak regulation around gambling and online betting activities, especially in border regions adjoining Thailand and China.
Large projects, including Shwe Kokko Yatai New City, were initially planned as entertainment and commercial hubs meant to facilitate investment as well as cross-border trade activities.
Over time, as the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in closure of borders which cut off legal gambling tourism and all economic ties, most of these zones reportedly turned their business operations into cybercrime activities and scam operations.
Activities that began as gambling operations later morphed into well-organized scams. Over time, several fortified and well-established scams were either built or expanded in sites including Shwe Kokko, KK Park located close to Myawaddy, Laukkai in Kokang and Mong La. Such scams are reportedly surrounded by fences that are very difficult to penetrate, protected by armed guards, and have advanced communication technology such as satellite internet.
A UN report suggests that at least 120,000 individuals were involved in such scams against their will in Myanmar. It is reported that these individuals were trafficked under false job offers to participate in such scam operations.
One of the most common schemes run from these centres is known as “pig butchering,” a long-running romance or investment scam in which victims are gradually manipulated over time before being financially exploited.
Trafficked workers are often moved across multiple regions, including parts of China, Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia, as part of broader transnational trafficking and fraud networks.